8 apps that men want

We tell you about the apps that are increasingly becoming popular with men as they prove to be useful in their day-to-day activities

By the people, for the people seems to be the motto for the latest initiative by the app called Nimbuzz. With the help of 25 million Nimbuzz users across the country, a special opinion poll was launched called Pulse of the Nation which gives the youth of today a platform to express their opinions and share their views on various subjects. The app has multiple-choice questions and the users choose the correct answer. The results of voting provide insight to public opinion, consumer sentiment, trends, behavioral intentions and other dimensions, which in turn provide a database that can be used productively by corporates to develop new stuff.

We ran a survey on the Pulse of the Nation, to find out which apps do men like the most. We divided the questions into various categories with four options each and came up with some surprising results. Here are some of the apps that Indian men prefer in terms of productivity, photography, health and fitness, music, sports, finance, killing time and even showing off.

NOTE: The numbers indicate the percentage of men among those polled, who used an app

INSTAGRAM (Photography – 40%)Everybody has a photographer hidden in them and if you have the option of not only clicking pictures but also touching them up and sharing them with the world, there is no stopping you. Instagram lets you customise your pictures and videos with its custom-built filters, that transform even the most basic pictures into a piece of art. You can then directly share the pictures with your friends and followers on social platforms or email them directly from the App. You can even follow people around the world, see what they have clicked and uploaded and comment on their pictures.

CRICBUZZ(Sports – 38%)It wasn’t a surprise that Cricbuzz is the favorite sports app of 38 per cent of Indian men. Cricbuzz gives you a live coverage of all international matches, T20 leagues and major domestic tournaments. You can visualise the action on the cricket pitch by live scores and ball-by-ball commentary — both text and audio. This app also gives you match alerts via push notifications. Stay updated on cricket news, match schedules, player profiles, team rankings and much more. The app has a full screen browsing and Lean-Back mode wherein the screen will not turn off until you physically switch it off. You can even access archives and view reruns of your favourite matches or the ones you happened to miss.

EXPENSE MANAGER(Finance – 32%)Managing expenses on the go is the need of the hour. Expense Manager lets you track expenses and income by week, month and year. You can create multiple accounts, sort the expenses and income by categories, schedule payments and even create recurring payments. It even gives out alerts for scheduled payments. You can take pictures of the receipts and store them to record expenses and then organise them by payer and payment method. Expense Manager also lets you create a personalised budget and keep a trick of your taxes. You needn’t worry if your expenditure is in other currencies, as there is also a built-in tool for currency conversion.

CANDY CRUSH(Killing time – 38%)Time is definitely not a precious commodity in India, plus with heavy traffic jams and long waits for public transport, one needs a tool to kill time. Candy Crush is one game that has taken the online world by storm. It is typical three-match game with an added challenge at each level. You need to cross certain levels to unlock new challenges. The game easily syncs with your other devices and you can continue the same level on your PC that you left on your phone. Candy Crush lets you take and give lives to your friends playing the game and post your results on Facebook for the world to see.

SAAVN (Music – 32%)Indians are crazy about music, especially Bollywood. This music-streaming device allows you to make your own playlist and organise it using the catalogue of over one million Indian songs. You can also listen to its radio service. The latest interface lets you view the album art in the player and is compatible with tablets. Download the App, sign up for sharing and send a song to your phone that can be used as a ring tone. It provides content in 11 languages and is available in neighbouring countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan.

MIXOLOGY (Showing off – 40%)Whether you are an experienced bartender or not, this app helps you show off your drink-mixing skills to your friends. Mixology is a drink and cocktail recipe app with thousands of recipes and ingredients to browse from. It lets you create your own Liquor Cabinet, wherein you can enter all the liquor and mixer types you have at hand and then search the database for all the cocktails you can make from them. It teaches you basic bartending terminology and techniques, which you can share with your friends via email and facebook. The drinks categories covered in the app are cocktails, martinis, shooters, jello shots, hot drinks, punches and even some non-alcoholic drinks. You can create a list of your favourite drinks for a quick reference or create your own recipes and save them. Mixology even finds the nearby liquor stores using the GPS and maps, so that you never have to hunt for the ingredients to make your favorite drink.

MY FITNESS PAL(Health and fitness – 31%)It is always easier to lose weight when you have somebody supporting you. My Fitness Pal is a community of people with a common goal — to lose weight and get fit. The app lets you track your food intake by maintaining a food diary, wherein you can select food items from a personal database or a searchable database with over 40,00,000 items. It also helps you maintain your diet plan. The community provides support and motivation via discussion forums and sharing tips with people who have similar problems. My Fitness Pal also connects with your fitness devices such as Fitbit tracker and Aria, Jawbone UP and Withings Pulse and exercise tracking apps such as Endomondo and MapMyRun to keep track of your exercise and weight.

EVERNOTE (Productivity – 40%)Evernote is an app that lets you carry your world with you. You can take notes — written and audio, make to-do lists, scan business cards, record reminders, save files and sync and share these across the gadgets you use. So irrespective of the device you are using, you have access to your saved data, which is searchable, even if you are on the move. The three types of content — text, voice recording and uploaded documents — can be combined to make a single note. Evernote also has a set of organisational tools such as tags, notebooks and stacks.